IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographical!:/  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


D 


D 


n 


D 
D 


D 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


Couverture  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurAe  et/ou  pelliculde 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  maps/ 

Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I      I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relid  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serr6e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  int^rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  r-jrutdes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  dtait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  filmdes. 

Additional  comments*/ 
Commentaires  suppldmentaires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemp'^ire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  methods  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu6s  ci-dessous. 


r~~|    Coloured  pages/ 


D 
D 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pelliculdes 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxe< 
Pages  d6color6es,  tachetdes  ou  piqu6es 

Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ddtachdes 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Qualitd  indgale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materit 
Comprend  du  matdriel  suppldmentaire 


I      I  Pages  damaged/ 

I      I  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

r~7|  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

I      I  Pages  detached/ 

nT]  Showthrough/ 

I      I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 


Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  dt^  filmdes  d  nouveau  de  fapon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous 

10X                            14X                             18X                            22X 

26X 

30X 

7 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


laire 
i  details 
|ues  du 
t  modifier 
iger  une 
9  filmage 


/ 
j6es 


ire 


ty  errata 
ed  to 

nt 

ne  pelure, 

ipon  d 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Library  of  the  Public 
Archives  of  Canada 

The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —»>( meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"). 
whichever  applies. 

IVIaps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  t)im(E$d  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


1 

2 

3 

L'exemplaire  filmi  fut  reproduit  grAce  d  la 
gtnArosit*  de: 

La  bibliothdque  des  Archives 
publiques  du  Canada 

Les  images  suivantes  ont  M  reprodultes  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  comptn  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetA  de  l'exemplaire  filmi,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  ImprimAe  sont  film4s  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'iiiustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  La  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmte  en  commenpant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'iiiustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniire  oage  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
dernlAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmAs  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  ciichA,  11  est  fiimA  d  partir 
de  Tangle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  nAcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mAthode. 


32X 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

f 


c 


Ki: 


t 


THE 


CABOT    CONTROVERSIES 


AND 


THE   RIOrTT   OF    ENGLAND   TO 
NORTH    AM  ERICA. 


5 


3^Y    JU8TIX    WTN80K.- 


iir  NOKhD  Copies,  fuom  thk  Proc  ,.:k,„xos  of  ti.,- 
MASSAcm;sETTs  Histo.mcal  Soc.etv,  1896. 


r 


CAMBRIDGE: 
'fOIIN    WILSON    AND    SON. 

1896. 


C.  2. 


Oil 
the 


ri^ 


riiE   CABOT  CONTROVERSIES. 


VV^ITH  our  present  knowledge  of  the  adventures  by  sea  of 
the  Normans  and  Jiretons,  or  of  the  Biscayans  and  Basques,  it 
cannot  be  i)roved  tliat  in  the  later  years  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, any  or  all  of  them  caught  fish  on  the  banks  of  Newfound- 
land, and  so  equalled  on  the  American  coast  the  hardihood  of 
their  known  pursuit  of  whale,  at  that  time,  in  the  Icelandic 
seas.  It  needs  only  to  be  shown  that  these  sea-going  folks 
accomplished  similar  exploits  in  search  of  cod,  to  make  it 
probable  that  before  the  days  of  John  Cabot  such  people  had 
become  acquainted  with  the  northeastern  shores  of  America. 
We  have  no  documentary  evidence  that  the  Bretons,  for 
instance,  were  on  the  Newfoundland  coast  before  1504  ;  but 
there  is  nothing  improbable  in  the  supposition  that  much 
earlier  visits  were  made  by  courageous  mariners.  In  those 
times  as  well  as  later,  the  Church  enforced  observance  of  a 
large  number  of  days  on  which  fish  was  the  permitted  food. 
On  other  days  in  winter  a  meat  diet  was  little  known  among 
the  common  people.  Seamen  accordingly  took  great  risks  in 
distant  seas  to  obtain  fish  for  salting. 

There  is  a  chance  that  some  dated  manuscript  or  chart  may 
yet  be  discovered  which  shall  establish  the  certainty  of  sucli 
Biscayan,  or  perhaps  Norman  visits,  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury Spain  actually  rested  her  right  to  fish  on  these  shores  in 
the  fre(iuenting  of  them  by  Basque  fishermen  before  the 
Cabot  discoveries,  though  it  seems  to  have  been  near  the 
midale  of  the  sixteenth  century  before  the  Spaniards  were 
again  in  any  numbers  in  these  waters.^ 

1  Prowse's  Newfoundlaiul,  p.  42. 


In  Peter  Mfirtyr's  account  of  the  early  English  voyager., 
it  is  5:aid  that  Cabot  found  the  word  Jiaccalaos  used  on  this 
coast,  or,  at  least,  that  is  one  interpretation  of  his  I^atin.  As 
this  term  was  (^ne  common  on  the  Biscay  an  shores  for  stock- 
fish or  cod,  it  night  be  deemed  conclusive  evidence  of  a 
previous  acquaintance  by  the  Hascjues  with  this  coast,  if 
Martyr's  language  would  bear  such  an  interpretation  in  the 
opinion  of  all  scholars  ;  but  it  will  not,  though  Harrisse  seems 
to  think  that  the  expression  was  used  by  the  natives  of  the 
coast,  and  not  by  t'^e  common  people  of  Biscay,  which  is 
tlie  point  in  dispute.  Judge  Prowse  thinks  that  the  English 
began  to  fish  on  the  coast  in  1498,  the  Portuguese  in  1501,  and 
the  French  in  1504. 

Owing  to  the  lack  of  explicit  and  published  documentary 
evidence,  events  wjiich  were  later  proved  to  mark  two  separate 
voyages  of  the  Cabots  were  so  confused  in  the  minds  of 
chroniclers,  that  tor  more  than  three  hundred  years  the  voyage 
of  discovery  in  1497,  followed  up  the  next  year  by  one  for 
possible  colonization,  were  reckoned  as  one,  as  has  been 
unaccountably  done  in  a  recent  '•  History  of  the  New  World, 
called  America,"'  by  E.  J.  Payne.  The  confusion  was  long 
ago  disjiclled,  \vhen  Richard  Biddle  published  his  "  Memoir 
of  Sebastian  Cabot"  in  1881,  and  therein  solved  what  was  at 
that  time  the  chief  riddle  of  the  ('abot  story.  The  narrative 
of  these  voyages  is,  however,  still  left  singularly  studded  with 
mooted  points,  and  the  controversy  over  them  has  served  to 
keep  alive  our  interest  in  the  exploits  of  those  English  pioneers 
in  American  discovery.  We  are  now  to  pass  in  review  these 
further  controverted  questions. 

Charles  Deane  represents  that  John  Cabot  was  born  in 
Genoa,  and  was  naturalized  in  Venice.  This  is  the  view  of 
Harrisse,  who  goes  critically  into  the  evidence.  Tarducci, 
who  had  elaborately  discussed  the  point  in  the  ^'  Revista 
Storica  italiana  "  in  1892,  repeated  his  argument  for  Venice  as 
the  birthplace  in  his  later  book  on  the  Cabots.  BuUo,  in  a 
monograph,  contends  with  little  force  for  Chioggia.  The 
opinions  of  Deane  and  Harrisse  are  the  best  sustained. 

The  controversy  over  the  date  of  the  voyage  of  discovery 
yields  more  easily  to  demonstration,  llakluyt,  in  his  pre- 
liminary single  volume,  published  in  1589,  had  cited  one  of 
the  legends  of  the  Cabot  mappemonde  (1544),  which  gave  the 


dat 
had 
wit 
wri 


voyages, 
d  on  this 
itin.  As 
'or  stock- 
tice   of   a 

coast,  if 
111  in  the 
sse  seems 
es  of  the 
which  is 
;  English 
L501,aiid 

imentary 
separate 
ninds  of 
e  voyage 
one  for 
las  been 
r  World, 
;vas  long 
■  Memoir 
,t  was  at 
larrative 
led  with 
jrved  to 
pioneers 
w  these 

born  in 
view  of 
arducci, 
Revista 
enice  as 
llo,  in  a 
The 

scovery 

lis    pre- 

one  of 

ave  the 


date  as  1404.  On  the  strength  of  this,  before  the  map  itself 
had  been  brought  to  the  notice  of  modern  scholars,  and  not- 
withstanding Hakluyt  later  adopted  the  date  14l>7,  other 
writers,  like  Harris  and  Pinkerton,  had  accepted  the  date  of 
1494,  and  it  has  been  agreed  to  in  our  day  by  D'Avezac  and 
T'lrducci.  When  Hakluyt,  in  1000,  made  the  change  to  1497, 
some  years  after  Lok  in  his  map  had  given  that  »late,  he 
set  a  fashion  which  became  more  prevalent ;  and  it  was 
adopted  by  Biddle  as  die  only  possible  date,  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  royal  license  for  iK,  voyage  was  issued  in  March, 
1495-6. 

In  1843  the  discovery  of  the  only  copy  of  the  Cabot  map 
which  has  been  found,  and  which  is  now  in  the  Bibliothoque 
Nationale  at  Paris,  showed  that  Hakluyt,  in  copying  the 
legend  in  1589,  had  done  so  correctly  ;  for  the  date  1494  was 
plainly  given  upon  the  map.  R.  H.  Major,  of  the  British 
Museum  map  department,  endeavored  to  account  for  the 
date  1494  by  supposing  that  in  the  printer's  copy  of  the 
legends,  the  Roman  figures  VH  had  been  read  IHI,  because 
the  inclini.ig  strokes  of  the  V  were  not  brought  together  at 
the  bottom.  Cumulative  evidence,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
patent,  has  made  it  certain  to  the  large  majority  of  investiga- 
tors that  1497  is  the  exact  date.  A  conclusive  document  in 
support  of  this  date,  as  well  as  in  proof  of  the  unc^uostionable 
agency  of  the  elder  Cabot,  as  against  his  son's,  in  the  discovery 
of  that  year,  was  found  some  years  ago  in  the  archives  at 
Milan.  It  is  a  letter  of  Raimondo  de  Soncino,  which  was 
originally  published  in  1865,  reprinted  by  Desimoni  in  1881, 
and  was  first  given  in  English  by  Deane  in  1883,  and  later,  in 
"lother  version,  by  Prowse  in  1895.  The  Cabot  map  gave 
the  particular  date  as  June  24.  This  has  generally  been 
accepted  as  correct ;  but  Harrisse  has  recently  argued  that  it 
is  an  impossible  date,  inasmuch  as  ten  or  fourteen  days  more 
would  have  been  necessary  to  reach  the  coast  from  the  time  of 
leaving  England. 

The  scene  of  the  landfall  is  still  in  dispute,  and  is  likely  to 
remain  so.  There  was  no  documentary  evidence  on  the  point, 
except  inferentially,  till  1843,  when  the  Cabot  map  was  dis- 
covered. It  was  then  found  that  the  expression  Prinvi  tierra 
vista  was  engraved  across  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  beginning 
at  a  point  near  the  northern  extremity  of  Cape  Breton  Island. 


6 


1 


It  was  of  couise  a  (iiit'stioii  wluithcr  this  meant  lliat  the 
ishmd,  as  a  wliolu,  was  tlio  hind  first  seen,  or  tliat  tliis  particii- 
hir  nortliern  uai)e  of  the  ishmd  was  intended.  That  it  con- 
veyed tiiis  hitter  exactness  ot"  description  is  tiie  opinion  of 
Deanc,  I^oiirinot,  and  otliers  ;  wliile  S.  E.  Dawson,  in  a  paper 
pnhlislied  l»y  the  Uoyal  Society  of  Canada,  thinks  that  tiie 
ishmd  as  a  wliole  was  intended,  and  tliat  the  true  hmdfall  was 
the  projx'r  ('a{)e  Ih'eton,  at  tiie  southeast  corner  of  the  island. 
W^ith  this  view  lie  contends  for  the  small  island,  Scatari,  lying 
seaward  of  that  point,  as  the  island  of  St.  John  discovered  on 
"■  the  same  day."  Those  who  favor  the  North  Cape  point  to 
Prince  Edward's  Island  as  the  attendant  island.  Dawson's 
view  is  in  a  measure  sustained  by  the  Portuguese  Portolano, 
usually  dated  from  1514  to  15:^0.  Prowse,  in  dismissing  Daw- 
.son's  argument,  depends  upon  what  is  called  the  "  liturgical 
test"  of  early  explorations,  during  which  navigators  named 
landmarks  after  saints'  days,  the  order  of  such  days  in  the 
calendar  heing  held  to  determine  their  course  and  speed.  He 
Hiids  that  this  test  as  applied  to  Cosa's  coast  names,  sup- 
posed to  mark  Cabot's  progress,  conllicts  with  Dawson's 
theory. 

The  eastern  coast  of  Newfoundland  has  been  accepted  as 
the  landfall  by  Ilowley  and  others.  Ilowley  indicates  the 
l)articular  locality  as  being  within  the  southeastern  peninsula, 
or  the  old  colony  of  Avalon,  as  granted  later  to  Lord  Haiti- 
more.  Prowse,  doubting  the  original  character  of  the  Cabot 
map,  contends  that  there  is  no  positive  testimony  as  to  the 
precise  si)ot  of  the  landfall,  and  thinks  it  may  have  been  on 
the  Labrador  or  Newfoundland  outer  coast,  probably  at  Cape 
J^onavista  on  the  latter,  wliere  John  Mason,  in  his  map  of 
Newfoundland  (IGIG  ?),  places  the  legend,  '' Firs-'t  found  by 
Cabot."  This  map  is  reproduced  from  Vaughan's  ''  Golden 
Fleece "  (16*25)  in  Winsor's  "■  America,"  vol.  viii.,  and  in 
Prowse's  Newfoundland,  p.  lOG. 

An  early  Italian  sojourner  in  the  southern  parts  of  North 
America,  Galvano,  died  in  1557,  and  left  behind  an  account  of 
the  New  World,  which  was  later  printed,  and  a  translation  of 
it  has  been  published  by  the  Hakluyt  Society.  In  this  he  speaks 
of  Cabot  seeing  land  in  latitude  45°  north,  which  so  closely 
conforms  to  the  testimony  of  the  Cabot  map  that  Deane  sus- 
pects Galvano  to  have  known  that  cartographical  record. 


4 


th 

T 

of 

till 

fro 

in 

co^ 

boi 

me 

Ca 


WIkmi  liiddic  wrote,  there  Wiis  little  (|iiestii)ii  amoiiiL;  seliohirs 
timt  (Jal)()t's  laiidfiill  hud  heoii  inade  on  the  liiihnidor  eoast. 
Tills  view  seemed  to  he  sii[)i)orte(l  bv  the  re[)orted  conversiitioii 
of  Sehastian  ('ahot,  aud  by  the  evidenee  of  Thome,  and  hy 
the  ma[)  of  Juan  de  la  Cosa,  who  hail  Ids  kiiowleclge  prohahly 
from  Kiiu'lish  sourees.  'I'he  ollieial  Spanish  maj)  of  Itihero 
in  1521)  bears  a  le<;end  that  the  ''  Kn<^lish  from  iirisiol  "  dis- 
covered the  Labrador  eoast.  Molineaux's  map  (lO'M))  also 
bore  a  Cabot  legend  on  the  sam(!  shore,  liiddle,  i!i  his  argu- 
ment, was  not  compelled  to  confront  the  testimony  of  tin* 
Cabot  map,  for  it  had  not  then  been  found,  liarrissi",  who 
writes  long  after  that  develoj)ment,  still  eontcnds  for  tlu; 
Labrador  theory,  and  shoves  aside  the  (ividenee  of  th<'  map. 
This  he  does  in  the  belief  that  at  this  time  (1544)  France, 
through  Cartier's  exploration,  was  establishing  claims  about 
the  St.  Lawrence  gulf  to  the  [)r(!Judice  of  Lngland,  and  that 
Cabot,  now  in  England,  in  order  to  rehabilitate  the  English 
counter  claim,  falsified  the  record,  and  inserted  the  inscription 
in  a  way  to  support  the  right  of  England  to  the  territory 
adjacent  to  the  gnlf.  it  is  hardly  safe  to  hold  that  either  of 
these  contestants  has  established  his  theory  beyond  dispute. 

In  the  short  interval  between  the  landfall  and  August,  when 
the  return  voyage  was  completed,  there  was  not  time  for  any 
extended  exploration,  and  (Cabot's  course  after  sighting  land 
has  been  equally  in  dispute.  Some  contend  that  he  mad.;  tlu; 
circuit  of  the  gulf,  and  passed  out  by  the  straits  of  lielle  Isle. 
At  all  events  it  has  been  asserted  that,  wherever  he  may  have 
struck  the  land,  Cabot  practically  pre-em[)ted  for  England  the 
continent  of  North  America,  by  virtue  of  having  seen  it  at  tlu; 
north  before  any  one  saw  it  at  the  south.  This  belief  is  better 
vouched  for  than  any  theory  which  has  been  developed,  by 
Varnhagen  originally,  and  later  by  Fiske  and  iJoyd  Thacher, 
to  rehabilitate  the  claim  of  Vespucius  to  priority.  If  Cabot 
did  not  strike  the  Labrador  coast,  but  rather  the  Newfoundland 
or  Cape  Breton  shores,  it  may  be  open  to  dond)t  if  he  saw  on 
his  first  voyage  the  mainland  at  all ;  and  Markham  contends 
that  he  did  not.  That  Cabot  supposed  he  saw  it,  thinking  it 
doubtless  Asia,  seems  apparent  from  the  language  of  the 
second  patent  under  which  the  voyage  of  l498  was  conducted. 
John  (Jabot  is  credited  in  this  instrument  with  having  seen  in 
his  earlier  voyages  both  "  land  (ind  isle."     It  is  a  quibble  to 


(lisputt!  tlio  (v\il)()t  claim  to  priority  on  .iny  tnchnical  distinction 
hetweon  tlio  inainhmd  uiid  any  adjacent  island. 

VVliatover  claim  Kiif^land  later  pn^ssed  for  the  poasesHion  of 
North  America  rested  ofi  what  John  Cahot  now  saw  in  141>7, 
when  he  took  possession  for  the  Eni^lish  crown.  Still,  after 
tlie  voyage  of  the  next  year  was  accomplished,  England  for 
many  years,  notwithstanding  sundry  voyages  for  trade  and 
observation,  made  no  attempt  to  follow  up  her  rights  by 
occupancy.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  this  apathy  was 
owing,  in  part  at  least,  to  tlie  unwillingness  of  Wolsey,  who 
was  ambitious  of  the  papal  chair,  to  displease  the  Emperor 
Meanwhile,  h  )wever,  English  fishermen  seem  to  have  fre- 
([uented  the  :5oast.  I).  W.  Prowse,  in  his  "  History  of  New- 
foundland" ^181)5)  has  pointed  out  how  the  English  cod 
fishery  on  the  Newfoundland  banks,  following  upon  the 
Cabots'  di^,coveries,  influenced  the  growth  of  the  maritime 
supremacy  of  England.  "The  Newfoundland  fishery,"  said 
Ralegh,  "  was  the  mainstay  and  support  of  the  western  coun- 
ties," whence  sprang  the  power  that  struck  the  Armada.  Judge 
Prowse  aims  to  show  that  this  fishing-trade,  up  to  1G30,  was 
the  greatest  business  enterprise  in  America,  with  intimate 
connection  at  times  with  New  England  and  Virginia,  and  that 
the  fre(iuenting  of  Spanish  fishermen  on  the  coast  practically 
ceased  after  the  defeat  of  the  Armada,  Unfortunately,  the 
fishery  and  trading  voyages  of  the  sixteenth  century  enter 
very  little,  or  not  at  all,  into  the  chronicles  of  discovery  ;  and 
.fudge  Prowse,  in  fortifying  his  belief  of  the  paramount 
authority  of  the  English  in  the  Newfoundland  regions  during 
the  first  half  of  that  century,  is  obliged  to  depend  on  chance 
references  in  contemporary  documents,  or  inferentially  on 
customs  long  established  when  referred  to  in  later  papers. 

The  act  of  the  33d  year  of  Henry  VHL,  relative  in  part 
to  fishing  on  the  Newfoundland  coast,  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  English  Act  of  Parliament  relative  to  the  New 
World. 

After  it  came  to  be  generally  understood  that  the  New 
World  wa"  a  distinct  continent,  there  grew  up  some  jealousy 
in  England  of  the  success  which  other  European  people  had 
had  in  colonization  beyond  the  Atlantic.  At  this  time  Eden, 
a  distinguished  student  of  the  new  discoveries,  began  to  exert 
some  iufiuence  on  the  maritime  spirit  of  England.     In  1553  he 


« 


pii 
cai 


9 


listiiiction 

isessiou  of 
V  ill  141>7, 
■>till,  after 
iglaiid  for 
trade  and 
rit^hts  by 
atliy  was 
Isey,  who 
Kmporor 
have    fre- 

of  New- 
[jlisli  cod 
ipon  the 
maritime 
ery,"  said 
3rn  coun- 
i.  Judge 
.630,  was 

intimate 
and  that 
actically 
Ltely,  the 
[ry  enter 
317 ;  and 
iramount 
s  during 
1  chance 
ially  on 
ers. 

in  part 

ve  been 
he   New 

he  New 
jealousy 
)ple  had 
e  Eden, 
o  exert 
1553  he 


published  a  transhition  from  St'l)astian  Miiiister,  v  Mcli  he 
called  ''  A  Treatise  of  tiie  Newo  India,"  and  two  ytars  later 
(If)')'))  h(!  [)riiited  a  versiitii  from  I'etcjr  Martyr,  wiiicii  h»' 
styled  ''  Decades  of  the  Newe  VVorlde."  Tiiis  account  by 
Martyr,  dated  in  1510,  is  the  earliest  which  wc  have  of  the 
printed  narratives  of  (Cabot's  voyages,  and  Martyr  doubtless 
obtained  the  details  from  Sebastian  Cabot,  who  is  i<uown  to 
have  l)een  his  friend.  In  like  manner,  what  iJamusio  tells  us 
was  derived  from  personal  interviews  of  a  similar  character. 
When  Eden  wrote,  Sebastian  ('abot,  an  old  man,  was  still 
alive  in  England,  and  the  chronicler's  views  may  be  supi)oscd 
to  have  been  to  some  extent  iiilluenced  by  the  aged  mariner's. 
These  o[)iiiious  of  Eden  were  that  it  behooved  his  eountrynu'ii, 
under  the  warrant  of  the  Cabot  discoveries,  not  to  delay  htnger 
in  taking  possession  of  the  New  World  from  liaccalaos  to 
Florida,  —  this  latter  region  having  been  coasted  by  Cabot,  as 
Ramusio  represented,  in  his  lack  of  discrimination  between  the 
two  voyages. 

Harrisse  found  on  the  reverse  of  a  manuscript  map  by  Dr. 
Dee,  preserved  in  the  British  Museum  and  dated  1580,  a 
similar  plea  for  English  activity.  Two  years  later  (1582) 
llakluyt  printed  his  little  "Divers  Voyages."  He  here  noted 
for  the  first  time  the  patent  of  i\Iarch,  1495-G,  to  John  Cabot 
and  his  three  sons,  and  formulated  a  claim  by  virtue  of  the 
discoveries  under  that  instrument  to  a  stretch  of  the  American 
coast  from  67'  in  the  north  to  Florida.  The  book  also  con- 
tained Michael  Lok's  map  of  1582,  wherein  a  delineation  of 
Cape  Breton  bore  the  legend,  "  J.  Cabot,  1407."  This  is  the 
earliest  instance  of  the  correct  date  in  a  printed  document, 
and  it  offers  beside  a  clear  recognition  of  John  Cabot's  agency 
in  the  discovery.  A  similar  plea,  when  llakluyt  was  trying 
to  induce  Queen  Elizabeth  to  countenance  Sir  Walter  Ralegh's 
American  projects,  was  again  entered  by  that  friend  of  dis- 
covery in  1584  in  his  "  Westerne  Planting,"  a  treatise  which 
remained  in  manuscript  till  1877,  when  the  Maine  Historical 
Society  published  it  under  the  editing  of  Dr.  Wood  and  Dr. 
Deane.  It  has  since  been  included  in  the  Edinburgh  edition 
of  Hakluyt. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Hakluyt's  larger  volume  of 
1589  cited  the  evidence  of  the  Cabot  map  to  the  date  of  1494, 
as  that  of  the  discovery.     That  volume  reproduced  some  por- 


10 


tions  of  Hakluyt's  little  collection  of  ir)82,  and  gathered  to- 
srether  for  the  Enirlish  reader  the  scattered  testimonies  of 
Martyr,  llanmsio,  (xoniara,  and  the  lesser  autliorities.  A 
more  extended  grouping  of  such  material  appeared  finally 
in  the  third  volume  of  Ifakluyt's  greater  work,  published  in 
1000.  He  printed  all  these  accounts  just  as  he  found  them, 
with  all  their  glaring  inconsistencies,  and  made  no  attempts 
to  reconcile  them. 

VViiel,her  the  father  John  Cal)ot  was  accompanied  by  his 
son  Sebastian  in  this  voyage  of  1497,  is  still  in  dispute.  Har- 
risse  denies  the  presence  of  the  son.  So  does  Captain  Duro, 
of  the  Spanish  navy,  in  a  paper  in  the  "  Espaiia  Moderna." 
Judge  Prowse  finds  no  record  to  show  that  any  of  John 
Cabot's  sons  accompanied  him,  and  contends  that  the  names 
of  Lewis,  Sebastian  and  Sanctus  Cabot  were  inserted  in  the 
patent  ''  to  extend  the  duration  of  the  charter  to  the  full  ex- 
tent of  thei;"  young  lives  "  ;  but  in  this  he  is  unmindful  of  the 
fact  that  the  patent  itself  continues  the  rights  which  it  con- 
veyed to  the  heirs  of  Cabot.  The  Eu-glish  Drapers  Company, 
in  1521,  in  an  address  to  the  king,  said  that  Sebastian  "  was 
never  in  that  land  himself,''  while  "  he  makes  report  of  many 
tilings  as  he  hath  heard  his  father  and  other  men  speak  in 
times  past."  Deanc,  on  the  other  hand,  thiid«  it  almost  cer- 
tain that  Sebastian  was  on  the  ship.  Sebastian's  own  testi- 
mon}',  if  it  be  accepted,  seems  to  leave  no  doubt  that  he  was 
his  father's  companion.  Tiie  legends  on  the  map  of  1544 
record  for  the  first  time  the  joint  action  of  John  and  Sebas- 
tian Cabot  in  this  initial  voyage.  The  same  conjunction  of 
effort  is  implied  in  an  inscription  on  a  well-known  portrait 
of  Sebastian  Cabot,  which  was  painted  while  he  was  in  Eng- 
land, and,  finally  coming  into  Biddle's  possession,  was  burned 
later  in  his  house  in  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania.  Copies,  whicli 
had  been  made  of  it,  are  preserved  in  the  historical  societies  of 
Massachusetts  and  New  York.     It  has  been  often  engraved. 

Dr.  Deanc  speaks  of  Sebastian  Cabot  as  "  the  Sphinx  of 
American  history."  It  seems  to  be  to  most  minds  certain, 
trusting  his  own  testimony,  that  Sebastian  was  on  the  second 
voyage  in  1498  ;  but  even  this  is  denied  by  Harrisse,  who  is 
not  inclined  to  accept  any  testimony  of  the  younger  Cabot 
not  confirmed  by  other  evidence. 

There  is  a  dispute  over  his  birthplace  more  perplexing  than 


thi 


col 
Bi 


11 


lered  to- 
onies  of 
iies.  A 
I  finally 
ILshed  ill 
d  them, 
ittempts 

by  his 
).  Hcir- 
n  Duio, 
)dernii." 
>f  John 
J  names 
1  in  the 
full  ex- 
1  of  the 
it  con- 
mpany, 
n  "  was 

many 
leak  in 
)st  cer- 

testi- 
le  was 

ir)44 

Sehas- 
ion  of 
^rtrait 

En  Of- 
urned 

Inch 

ies  of 

ed. 

IX    of 

tain, 

cond 

10  is 

abot 

than 


that  which  concerns  his  fathers  nativity.  Sebastian  told 
Eden  that  he  was  born  in  iJristol,  England,  whither  his  father 
had  come  not  long  before.  On  the  other  hand,  he  assured 
Contarini  tl  t  he  was  a  native  of  Venice, — a  statement 
now  accepted  by  Deane,  Tarducci,  and  most  of  the  other 
authorities. 

The  character  of  Sebastian  Cabot  may  be  held,  from  ihe 
contradictions  already  indicated,  to  be  easily  open  to  dispute. 
Biddle  and  some  later  biographers  like  Nichols  of  Bristol 
have  given  him  something  like  heroic  attributes.  Iin[uirtial 
critics,  possessed  of  the  later  developments  of  research,  can 
but  expose  Sebastian's  conflicting  statements  ;  yet  it  is  fair  to 
remember  that  these  diversities  are  not  drawn  from  anything 
that  lie  has  written,  but  from  what  others  have  reported  him 
as  saying.  His  shuffling  conduct,  when  he  tried  to  be  false 
to  his  obligations,  and  sell  maritime  secrets  to  the  Republic  of 
Venice,  may,  perhaps,  rest  on  sufficient  evidence,  since  it  is 
contained  in  a  letter  of  Contarini,  from  the  Milan  Archives, 
and  in  the  Calendars  of  the  Venetian  Archives  (1551),  as 
published  by  the  English  Government.  Harrisse,  particularly 
in  his  "  Discovery  of  North  America,"  and  in  his  "  John  Cabot 
and  Sebastian,  his  Son,"  denounces  vSebastian  Cabot  as  a  liar 
and  an  intriguer  ;  but  this  critic  is  over  anxious  sometimes  to 
impale  his  victim.  Ifarrisse's  antagonist,  the  Spaniard  Duro, 
speaks  of  Sebastian's  moral  dishonesty.  lie  charges  him  like- 
wise with  incapacity,  and  in  scientific  attainments  and  seaman- 
ship Harrisse  is  inclined  to  discredit  him.  It  is  difficult, 
however,  to  believe  that  administrative  incompetency  could 
have  chanicterized  very  greatly  a  man  who  was  sought,  both 
by  England  and  Spain,  to  take  the  management  of  their 
maritime  affairs.  That  his  mind  was  fertile  in  resources,  and 
that  he  exercised  in  matters  of  detail  a  superior  grasp,  seems 
evident.  As  a  student  of  phenomena,  he  was,  if  not  the  first, 
a  leading  agent  to  suspect  that  by  observing  the  variation  of 
the  needle  a  law  could  be  adduced  for  determining  longitude  ; 
and  on  his  death-bed  he  talked  of  it  as  a  secret  of  the  sea- 
man's art.  He  naturally  carried  his  expectations  too  far, 
since  first  glimpses  of  nature's  laws  are  likely  to  incline  the 
imaginative  mind  to  excess  of  belief  ;  but  the  continued  publi- 
cation to-day  of  magnetic  charts,  and  the  occasional  use  of 
them  in  navigation,  show  that  Cabot's  insight  was  clear. 


12 


i: 

I; 


His  manuscript  maps  are  lost ;  but  Harrisse  records  in  his 
"  Discovery  of  North  America,"  and  in  his  Enghsh  book  on 
"  John  Cabot,"  etc.,  various  mentions  of  them  by  his  con- 
temporaries. Ilis  drafts  were  doubtless  used  by  Juan  de  la 
Cosa  in  delineating  the  Asiatic  coast  in  the  map  of  1500,  now 
preserved  in  the  Archives  of  the  Marine  at  Madrid.  This 
earliest  delineation  of  the  American  regions  was  lost  sight  of 
till  Humboldt  drew  attention  to  it,  and  nothing  of  an  earlier 
date,  showing  the  new  world,  has  ever  been  found.  The 
Spanisli  Government  has  lately  reproduced  it  in  full  size,  and  it 
has  been  engraved  by  Jomard  and  many  others,  particularly  its 
American  parts.  There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  Cabot's 
charts  were  used  for  the  regions  of  the  northeast  by  Ruysch, 
who  produced  the  earliest  engraved  map,  showing  the  new  dis- 
coveries, whichappeared  in  the  Ptolemy  of  1586,  and  has  been 
reproduced  by  Winsor,  Nordenskiold,  Prowse,  and  many 
otliers.  Prowse,^  who  also  despises  Sebastian  Cabot,  thinks 
that  in  the  poor  estate  of  his  old  age  he  may  have  sold  his 
maps  to  Spain,  and  that  their  disappearance  may  have  been 
occasioned  by  the  jealousy  of  Spain  in  keeping  secret  maps  of 
the  New  World,  —  a  habit  charged  upon  the  Spanish  Hydro- 
graphical  Office  of  that  time,  particularly  by  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert.  Harrisse  seems  inclined  to  doubt  this  habit  in  cases 
which  tell  against  his  theories,  though  he  acknowledges  that 
the  Pilot  Major  was  not  in  the  early  years  permitted  to  sell 
maps,  and  shows  how  Sebastian  Cabot,  while  in  that  office,  pre- 
vented others  from  doing  the  same.  The  engraved  map  of 
1544,  usually  cited  as  the  Cabot  mappemonde,  and  now  pre- 
served in  the  only  copy  known,  in  the  great  library  at  Paris,  has 
been  photographed,  full-size,  for  some  of  the  principal  Ameri- 
can historical  libraries,  and  has  been  often  reproduced  on  a 
smaller  scale  in  the  great  fac-simile  atlases  and  elsewhere. 
There  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  other  editions  or  issues 
of  it  may  have  been  produced,  since  the  date  1549  is  assigned 
to  it,  in  the  citation  of  some  of  its  legends  made  by  Chy- 
tncus  about  1505.  These  inscriptions  are  further  enigmas  ; 
for  while  Sebastian  Cabot  must  necessarily  have  been  the 
source  from  which  some  of  the  statements  are  drawn,  there 
are  parts  of  the  legends  which  it  is  impossible  to  believe 
repres'jut  sucli  knowledge  as  he  must  'be  supposed  to  have 

1   Newfoundland,  p.  30. 


ha( 
15' 

Th 
the 
its 
a  \v| 


.j3 


18 


;  in  his 
Dook  on 
lis  con- 
,n  de  la 

00,  now 

1.  This 
sight  of 
I  earlier 
.  The 
3,  and  it 
ilarly  its 
Cabot's 
Ruysch, 
lew  dis- 
las  been 
[  many 
,  thinks 
5old  his 
ve  been 
maps  of 

Hydro- 

mphrey 

cases 

es  that 

to  sell 

ce,  pre- 

map  of 

w  pre- 

ris,  has 

Ameri- 

d  on  a 

where. 

issues 

signed 

Chy- 

gmas  ; 

n  the 

there 

elieve 

have 


had.  Ortelius,  the  earliest  maker  of  atlases,  i)Ossessed,  in 
1570,  a  copy  of  the  maj) ;  but  ho  throws  no  light  upon  it. 
These  legends  are  not  all  a  part  of  the  map  itself,  but  most  of 
thorn  are  printed  on  separate  sheets  of  paper  and  pasted  on 
its  margin.  They  interlink  with  the  body  of  the  map  in  such 
a  way,  however,  as  to  make  it  apparent  that  they  belong  to 
the  publication.  They  are  in  Latin  and  Spanish,  nearly 
matching.  A  manuscript  copy  of  them  in  the  hand  of  a 
learned  Spaniard,  Dr.  Grajales,  was  found  by  Harrisse  in 
the  Royal  Library  at  ^fadrid,  and  led  that  critic  to  think  that 
Cabot  may  have  furnished  the  data,  and  Grajales  have  worked 
up  the  text ;  but  there  does  not  seem  to  be  evidence  that 
Grajales  may  not  have  copied  them  from  another  copy  or  from 
the  printed  sheets.  The  inscriptions  were  never  in  their  com- 
pleteness laid  before  scholars  in  print,  till  they  were  copied  for 
Dr.  Deane  from  the  map.  After  his  death  the  text  with  an 
English  translation,  made  under  his  direction,  was  printed  in 
the  Proceedings  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  i:i 
February,  1891.  Some  of  them  are  printed  by  Harrisse 
in  his  English  book  on  Cabot.  The  same  inscriptions  from 
the  original  type,  and  printed  in  a  brochure,  turned  up  in 
1895,  for  the  first  time,  in  an  auction  sale  of  the  library  of  the 
Chateau  de  Lobris,  in  Silesia,  and  was  brought  to  this  coun- 
try for  a  dealer  in  New  York.  The  brochure  furnishes  a 
title  —  "  Declaratio  Chartje  Nov;e  Navigatoria'  Domini  Almi- 
rantis"  —  not  before  known.  The  inscriptions  veil  the  fact 
that  there  were  separate  voyages  of  discovery  and  of  attempted 
colonization. 

The  voyage  of  1498,  conducted  under  the  license  granted 
February  3, 1497-8,  began  in  the  following  May  and  continued 
till  the  autumn  or  early  winter.  Our  knowledge  of  its  prog- 
ress depends  unfortunately  and  largely  on  what  Sebastian 
Cabot  is  reported  to  have  said  of  his  experiences  in  these 
yetvrs ;  but  we  are  forced  to  eliminate  from  his  narrative  what 
we  must  otherwise  determine  could  only  have  belonged  to 
events  of  the  earlier  voyage.  We  have,  in  addition,  what  is 
here  and  there  recorded  in  various  documentar}^  sources. 
These  last  authorities  have  been  rendered  accessible  in  what 
lias  been  collected  in  the  works  of  Uiddlo,  Harrisse,  Deane, 
Tarducci,  Pezzi,  and  Dcsimoni ;  and  in  the  calendars  of  the 
Venetian  and  Spanish  documents,  published  by  the  Master  of 


14 


the  Rolls,  in  London.  An  enumeration  of  the  documentary 
sources  of  the  two  Cabot  voyages,  as  well  as  indications  of  the 
places  wherein  they  can  be  found,  constitute  a  "Syllabus"  at 
the  end  of  Harrisse's  latest  book  on  *■'  John  Cabot  and 
Sebastian,  his  Son." 

There  is  another  conflict  of  testimony  as  to  the  high  lati- 
tude reached  by  Cabot  on  this  second  voyage.  Some  accounts 
say  that  it  was  55',  and  others  about  (57  ,  but  it  is  possible  that 
the  larger  figures  refer  to  a  later  voyage,  yet  to  be  mentioned 
as  among  the  possibilities.  On  his  southern  course  he  is 
said  to  have  gone  down  to  36-,  or,  as  again  expressed,  to  the 
latitude  of  Gibraltar.  That  Ojeda  in  1501  was  ordered  by 
Spain  to  the  Florida  coast  to  plant  symbols  of  the  Spanish 
rights  thereto,  and  to  bar  out  the  English,  is  thought  to  have 
been  occasioned  by  English  visitors  to  that  region,  who,  in  the 
opinion  of  some,  must  necessarily  have  been  Cabot  and  his 
companions  on  this  voyage  of  1498. 

There  are  two  incidents  in  Sebastian  C^abot's  career  which 
have  been  thought  to  show  that  he  could  never  have  been  so 
far  south  along  this  Atlantic  coast.  If  he  had,  and  had  thereby 
established  any  rights  for  England,  it  is  thought  tiiat  he  would 
not  have  held  his  tongue  in  1524,  when  he  was  at  the  Con- 
gress of  Badajos  and  the  claim  of  Spain  to  this  coast  was 
assumed.  Again  in  1535  he  was  present  at  the  trial  instituted 
by  the  Columbus  heirs,  and  he  there  testified  that  he  did  not 
know  there  was  a  continuous  coast  from  Baccalaos  to  Florida, 
which,  with  the  experience  assigned  to  him  on  this  voyage, 
would  have  been  perjur3^  Too  much  should  not  be  made  of 
these  variances,  however,  since  Sebastian  Cabot  at  both  these 
dates  was  a  paid  officer  of  Spain,  and  could  hardly  be  expected 
to  damage  the  interests  of  his  Spanish  masters  or  his  own. 

That  Sebastian  Cabot  made  a  later  voyage  to  the  north 
Atlantic  coast  is  likewise  a  matter  of  dispute.  Eden  in  his 
"  Treatise  of  the  Newe  India*'  ( 1553),  while  Cabot  was  living 
in  England,  mentions  such  a  voyage  as  having  occurred  in 
1516.  Hakluyt  later,  referring  to  it,  makes  the  voyage,  how- 
ever, take  a  direction  towards  the  West  Indies.  Biddle  found 
its  destination  in  the  Arctic  regions,  and  says  that  Cabot  was 
accomi)anied  by  Pert,  and  that  the  two  explorers  reached  the 
latitude  of  67"  30'  —  which  is  the  extreme  r.'*^^itude  of  his 
northern    exploration,    as    pi.-ofessed     by    Cabot    himself    to 


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15 


Raninsio.  Deane  and  Kohl  are  inclined  to  discredit  the 
voyage  altogether;  but  JJrevoort,  in  a  communication  to 
Doane,  suspects  it  may  have  taken  place,  but  in  1508,  and  not 
in  1510.  llarrisse  does  not  credit  this  voyage,  nor  the  alleged 
earlier  one  of  1508,  when  Sebastian  is  said  to  have  brought 
some  native  Americans  to  England. 

A  new  intelligence  as  regards  the  entire  Cabot  story  was 
shed  upon  it  in  1831,  when  Richard  Biddle  printed  his 
"  Memoir  of  Sebastian  Cabot."  It  was  he,  as  has  been  shown, 
who  separated  the  details  of  the  two  voyages.  IJe  printed  the 
license  for  a  voyage  of  discovery  in  full  for  the  first  time.  He 
offered  the  best  exposition  of  these  early  maritime  explorations 
which  had  l)een  made  up  to  that  time.  The  lesser  biograpliies 
of  Hay  ward  (in  Sparks'  "American  Biography")  and  of 
Nichols  of  Bristol,  owe  everything  to  Biddle. 

The  chapter  which  Charles  Deane  gave  to  the  subject  in 
the  third  volume  of  the  "  Narrative  and  (^ritical  History  of 
America  "  constitutes  a  cautious  and  thorough  examination  of 
all  the  evidence,  extended  or  brief,  worthy  of  consideration  ; 
and  he  surveys  it  in  a  chronological  way.  A  study  of  Dr. 
Deane's  treatment  is  peculiarly  indicative  of  the  hazards  to 
which  historical  statements  are  subjected  during  transmission 
from  one  writer  to  another,  under  the  influence  of  tradition, 
chance  knowledge,  inference,  and  conjecture. 

llarrisse's  full  knowledge,  with  an  unconscious  wavering 
from  his  often  professed  documentary  standard,  is  shown  in 
his  "Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot"  (1882),  when  he  examines  the 
attendant  cartography  and  bibliography,  and  enriches  his  text 
with  documentary  proofs.  He  also  arranges  the  chronology  of 
later  voyages  down  to  the  middle  of  the  f^ixteenth  ceui^ury. 
What  he  says  of  the  Cabots  in  his  "  Discovery  of  North 
America"  (1892)  puts  in  English  what  he  had  before  displayed 
in  B\ench,  and  adds  something  in  a  supplemental  way.  He 
gave  a  later  word  in  his  "  Subastien  Cabot,  Navigateur 
Vendtien,"  which  was  printed  in  the  "  Revue  de  Geographic," 
January,  1895.  He  rearranged  and  amplified  all  the  discus- 
sions on  mooted  points,  and  cited  the  evidences  thereupon  with 
much  skill  in  his  "John  Cabot,  the  Difi^coverer  of  North 
America,  and  Sebastian  his  Son  "  (London,  1890). 

Beside  the  little  treatise  of  Cornelio  Desimoni,  the  Italians 
have  given  us  an  extended  survey  in  the  work  of  Tarducci, 


IG 


published  at  Venice  in  1802.  In  his  trejitment  he  avails  him- 
self of  what  his  predecessors  had  done  up  to  that  time ;  but  he 
seems  ignorant  of  the  labors  of  Dr.  Deaiie.  An  English  trans- 
lation by  H.  F.  Hrownson  was  published  at  Detroit  in  1893, 
but  the  translator  failed  to  rectify  palpable  errors  of  his 
original.  Tarducci  shows  industry  ;  but  his  book  has  some 
glaring  defects,  and  he  stubbornly  adheres  to  exploded 
theories. 

The  lesser  authorities  who  have  aimed  in  what  they  have 
produced  to  i^eep  abi-east  of  the  progress  of  knowledge  on  the 
subject  are  the  following :  Kohl,  in  his  ''  Discovery  of  Maine  "  ; 
Coote,  in  the  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  "  ;  Bancroft, 
in  the  "  Centennial "'  and  later  edition  of  his  "  United  States  "  ; 
Fiske,  in  his  "Discovery  of  America";  Winsor,  in  his 
"Columbus";  Kingsford,  hi  his  "History  of  Canada";  and 
Prowse,  in  his  "  History  of  Newfoundland." 


■is 


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;  Bancroft, 
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>r,  in  his 
itla";  and 


